WIND TUBINE TIMELINE

By HKR

  • AUGUST 1854

    AUGUST 1854
    Daniel Halladay a machinist, inventor, and businessman patented the first commercially viable windmill—Halladay’s Self-Governing Windmill.

  • JULY 1887

    JULY 1887
    The first known wind turbine used to produce electricity is built in Scotland. The wind turbine is created by Prof James Blyth of Anderson's College, Glasgow

  • 1891

    1891
    Poul la Cour, develops an electricity-generating wind turbine and later figures out how to supply a steady stream of power from the wind turbine by use of a regulator, a Kratostate.

  • 1903

    1903
    The Society of Wind Electricians is formed to share how wind electricity works and improve designs

  • 1927

    1927
    Joe Jacobs and Marcellus Jacobs open a “Jacobs Wind” factory in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They produce wind turbines for use on farms. The wind turbines are generally used to charge batteries and to power lights.

  • 1941

    1941
    The first megawatt-size wind turbine is connected to a local electrical distribution grid. The 1.25-MW Smith-Putnam wind turbine is erected in Castletown, Vermont. It has blades 75 feet in length.

  • 1957

    1957
    Johannes Juul builds a horizontal-axis wind turbine with a diameter of 24 meters and 3 blades very similar in design to wind turbines still used today. The wind turbine has a capacity of 200 kW and it employs a new invention, emergency aerodynamic tip breaks, which is still used in wind turbines today.

  • 1975

    1975
    A NASA wind turbine program to develop utility-scale wind turbines starts.

  • 1980

    1980
    Wind developer Zond is founded (eventually becomes GE Wind Energy).
    Wind turbine manufacturer Danregn Vindkraft is founded, spinning off from a Danish manufacturer of irrigation systems. It later becomes Bonus Energy and then Siemens Wind Power
    The world’s first wind farm including 20 wind turbines is put online

  • 1991

    1991
    The first offshore wind farm in the world is constructed in southern Denmark. It includes 11 wind turbines manufactured by Bonus Energy,

  • 2009

    2009
    The Roscoe Wind Farm in Texas becomes the largest wind farm in the world. It has a power capacity of 781.5 megawatts and includes 634 wind turbines

  • 2020

    2020
    Wind power will continue to dominate the renewable energy landscape. 2020 was a big year for wind power